


Keep Them Galra Rollin (Rawhide)

by Demenior



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Road Trips, Sendak is a shit, The Worst Team of Angry People, They're all catty, Ulaz is a shit, Who have legitimately tried (and succeeded) in torturing and killing each other, birthday gift, less comedy and more conniving and cold practicality, or implied pre-relationship, vaguely implied Shiro/Ulaz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 16:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12172695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demenior/pseuds/Demenior
Summary: Sendak, Shiro, ‘n Ulaz have crashed on a jungle-y Death World, and they’ve got till sundown to speed-run their way to a safe pickup location to rendezvous with a ship. They're all grown men who are working together to take down the Galra empire (some more willingly than others), which means they're over the whole 'yeah i tortured and killed you that one time' thing. Totally over it. It's all in the past.Hint: it's not[a birthday gift for Sassafrassrex]





	Keep Them Galra Rollin (Rawhide)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serbajean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serbajean/gifts).



> Happy birthday Sass!

“Hurry up,” Shiro orders, “we only have a few hours to get to the rendezvous point.”

Sendak bares his teeth in a snarl, though he attempts to hide the aggravation in his voice, “Yes, because your team would abandon us here otherwise.”

No such luck. Contempt drips from every word like drool from hungry lips.

“Because if we miss the rendezvous then it means we have to spend even more time in your company,” Ulaz responds. His hackles are up, leaping to the defense of the human Paladins.

Strange, that a Galra would choose another species over his own kind. Then again, Sendak has never felt any particular devotion to the Blades of Marmora, even after they fished him from the ether and dragged him into a life debt, so he can’t necessarily blame the spy.

Shiro’s prosthetic hangs as a dead weight at his side. The crash did a number on them all, but thankfully Sendak’s arm came out the better. Something to be said for the piece of junk the Cult of Marmora saw to gift him with. It’s been through the compactor and back, and still functions. Unlike Shiro’s pretty piece of work, which cracked thanks to the rough landing and has been leaking quintessence all night.

Which is and of itself a problem. Quintessence in a container is, well, contained. It’s relatively safe. Keep away from flames, don’t you dare drop it, and you’ll be fine. It’s a near-perfect energy source. Raw quintessence on the other hand, is atomic. Shiro’s attached to an unstable bomb, and worse than that, it’s leaving a very clear trail for their hunters to follow.

Ulaz has already torn up some of his uniform to try and stem the leakage, and Shiro holds the cloth in place as he shoulders through the undergrowth. His march is determined, and strained in the way that only someone trying to ignore incredible pain can be.

Neither Ulaz nor Sendak have called him on it. They’re wise enough to injury to let Shiro endure it as long as he can. So long as he’s walking by himself he’s less of a hassle for them to deal with.

Sendak’s exhausted, and the heat is making his fur wilt. He hates jungles.

“So this is my fault?” He tosses at Ulaz.

True to his form; sanctimonious, righteous, know-it-all Ulaz takes the bait, “If you had stood your ground instead of fleeing we could have handled that fleet!”

“With two cruisers?” Sendak barks a laugh, “if you hadn’t brought along the Black Paladin, no one would have cared what we were doing!”

“Shiro’s presence is not to blame for your cowardice,” Ulaz growls, teeth barred.

Sendak can rise to that threat. The claws on his left hand click as he taps them together. Everything is functional enough to tear Ulaz’s throat out.

“Enough!” Shiro shouts, rounding on them. He misjudges his momentum and stumbles slightly, extending his leg to keep his balance so he looks more like a young cub learning to walk, rather than someone to take orders from, “this is no time to be fighting! We have a mission to complete, and we’re on the same side.”

“Regrettably,” Ulaz mumbles. Sendak huffs at him.

Shiro glares at Ulaz, “The _same_ side. We’re allies.”

Ulaz actually wilts. It’s probably the weakest glare Sendak has ever seen on a creature, as Shiro is absolutely pathetic in his determination to pretend he’s not pale as bone and one eye seems to be overcome with blood. Sendak knows for a fact that, were they to spar again, he could kill Shiro in an instant. Shiro’s absolutely helpless.

Maybe that would be fair payback, seeing as how Shiro treated him the last time _he_ was helpless.

Shiro turns and continues forging ahead, setting their slow, stumbling pace. Ulaz’s ears are folded back against his head, and he looks like someone just told him he was the whelp of the litter.

“You should let him kill you,” Sendak offers, “he’s much nicer to me now.”

Ulaz snorts at him and strides ahead to take a position just behind Shiro. Sendak really, truly, honestly cannot stand Ulaz.

There’s quintessence drops glowing in the semi-dark of the forest floor. Sendak stomps it out, to keep it from burning the leaf litter. He hops ahead, catching up to Shiro and his pompous Galra shadow in only a few strides.

“We need to take care of your arm,” Sendak broaches the subject again.

“It’s fine,” Shiro snaps.

“It’s leaking,” Sendak points out.

Ulaz is already reaching to tear a new strip out of his shirt. Sendak wonders what sort of life debt Shiro has on Ulaz, for Ulaz to be so domesticated to him. It’s embarrassing to watch.

Not that Sendak has it much better. Kolivan orders him to jump, and Sendak has to ask ‘how high?’. And then Kolivan usually has him jumping into situations like this.

Truly, he’s seen far too much of Shiro since the Paladin killed him. It’s unfair.

“There’s not much we can do for it,” Shiro grits out. He accepts the new cloth from Ulaz and tries to wipe up the glowing trails of power running down his arm.

“We take it off,” Sendak says, “and use it to make a decoy trail.”

“It’s embedded,” Shiro replies. He sounds like he thinks Sendak is stupid, “there’s no way to take it off unless we cut off the rest of my arm.”

“Well,” Sendak shrugs, and he hears the sound of Ulaz growling behind him.

“You will not harm him,” Ulaz threatens.

Sendak curls his lips up, stopping so Shiro stops to face him, “I don’t have to take the whole arm, but the thing is useless to you now. Console’s cracked; it’s going to have to be replaced anyways. I can rip most of it off, at least get the quintessence case away from you—”

“No,” Shiro says firmly, glaring up at him, “there’s nothing we can do until we get back to the Castle, got it? Now get walking.”

Shiro takes off again, unwilling to lose his already lackluster momentum. Ulaz follows on his heels, and fluffs his fur and growls as he passes Sendak. He has a hand on his sword.

Sendak huffs and follows after them. Ulaz is glued to Shiro’s back, and can’t seem to think straight.

Because he saw the ring in Shiro’s good eye— the other being red with blood and almost swollen shut— that faint sliver of glowing quintessence that will grow and eventually burn his eyes out completely.

See, that’s the other danger of a quintessence-powered limb breaking. Especially one that’s grafted right into his system like this one is. It’s not just leaking out onto the ground and making the three of them easy to find, it’s also leaking _in_ to Shiro. And that might be a whole lot more dangerous.

They have a few hours before Shiro will be critical. Sendak has to decide if he wants to help him before that…

His own prosthetic _whirs_ , loud and ungainly where his Empire prosthetic had been large and powerful. It reminds him of all he lost, and how he’s scraping this life together with half a face and no power.

Maybe he won’t help Shiro. Let the Paladin see what it’s like to be trapped and watching the cracks on the chamber spread as the void of space waits to rush in and kill you.

Was it better to freeze to death? Or is burning nicer? He’ll have to ask Shiro, provided Sendak decides to let him burn.

Should he decide to help the Paladin, he’ll need to enlist Ulaz. Shiro won’t let them touch his arm, so they’ll have to catch him off-guard. If Ulaz can hold him down, Sendak can do the dirty work. Shiro may not be able to walk afterwards, but Ulaz can volunteer to carry him. He’d probably like that.

Sendak stomps out another drop of quintessence. Perhaps, once Shiro’s collapsed and thrown up enough times, he’ll make Ulaz beg to help. That sounds nice. That sounds like something that could put Sendak in the mood to help.

Ulaz begging, and Shiro in great pain?

Well, Sendak’s finally beginning to enjoy this trip.


End file.
